Jennifer Nicholson was mother to two daughters, Freja and Lily, who she took on regular vacations to locations abroad, like Turkey and Thailand. While on these trips, Jennifer was diligent about reminding her daughters to slather on sunscreen before going out.
When they returned home, however, Jennifer admitted she was less vigilant about sunscreen application. She thought, she admits foolishly, that the sun in Britain wasn’t as harmful as the sun they’d experienced abroad.
This is the thought that continues to haunt Jennifer today.
In 2011, she discovered a mole on her daughter, Freja’s, back. Over the next year, the mole grew with Freja, becoming large, bumpy, and black. They went to the doctor and had a biopsy done of the lump, but the results didn’t seem to call for further concern. The doctors did, however, remove the mole just to be safe.
Around two years later, however, Freja began to get horrible, pounding headaches and developed a two-inch lump on the underside of her arm. They returned to the doctors then, and Freja underwent more tests. The situation was finally made clear:
Freja had developed skin cancer.
At this point, there was little the doctors could do. Freja not only had symptoms of the cancer on her skin, but she also developed a tumor in her brain. Each time a tumor was removed, the cancer simply came back.
Throughout this time, Freja attempted and managed to maintain a relatively normal life. She completed her A-levels at school, scoring well on several of them; threw a garden party to enjoy time with her friends; and raised over £20,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Freja’s condition continuously got worse before she finally passed away in November 2015, while at home with friends and family by her side.
Jennifer has never quite forgiven herself for failing to warn her daughter about using sunscreen daily, and not just while on vacation. She hopes that her own devastating loss can serve as a chilling warning and reminder for all other parents.
“There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t wish I could go back and just take five minutes to put suncream on her delicate young skin when I mistakenly thought there was no danger,” Jennifer says.
